Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, pleading guilty to willfully making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI; the House Intelligence Committee approving legislation that would renew the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program; a reform bill introduced by Wisconsin lawmakers proposes statutory changes that its sponsors say would streamline the Badger State’s civil-litigation system; in his latest Dispatch from the Road, Courthouse News’ Western bureau chief waxes eloquently about the thrill of live sports – and soccer – from California’s Santa Clara County, and more.

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1.) In National news, President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Friday morning to willfully and knowingly making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador.

2.) Mirroring the Trump administration’s recent complaints, congressional Republicans grasped Thursday for ways to block courts from handing down nationwide injunctions against federal policies.

3.) The House Intelligence Committee on Friday approved legislation that would renew the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program, despite objections from Democrats and civil liberties groups over inadequate privacy protection.

4.) The Senate moved closer to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, as it rushed its massive tax cut toward passage.

5.) In Regional news, prosecutors opened the first day of the trial of 85-year-old John Feit by arguing the Catholic Church was complicit in covering up the 1960 murder of a South Texas beauty queen to protect the now-retired priest.

6.) A reform bill introduced Thursday by Wisconsin lawmakers proposes statutory changes that its sponsors say would streamline the Badger State’s civil-litigation system.

7.) A longtime Republican member of Virginia’s House of Delegates on Thursday filed a request for a recount of the November vote that resulted in his losing his seat.

8.) In his latest Dispatch from the Road, Courthouse News’ Western bureau chief waxes eloquently about the thrill of live sports – and soccer – from California’s Santa Clara County.

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